After George, Mrs. Whitaker’s husband, died, Carly had unknowingly become an important part of her lonely Thursdays. Mrs. Whitaker had looked forward to those weekly visits, even though they were officially about cleaning. Carly suddenly realized that the quiet conversations they shared had meant far more to the older woman than she had ever understood.
“I was lonely, Carly,” Mrs. Whitaker explained. “But that didn’t give me the right to make my loneliness part of what I was paying you to manage.” Carly admitted that she had also avoided becoming too comfortable because she wanted to protect her job and respect their boundaries.
They realized they had both been protecting the same boundary from opposite sides. Carly had been afraid of becoming unprofessional, while Mrs. Whitaker had been afraid of asking for something the arrangement did not include. For eight years, neither woman had realized how much the other valued their connection.
